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Kid Twist

In this episode of the Witness, Peter Falk reprises the role that netted in Oscar Nomination as Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, an infamous 1930s Hitman associated with Murder Incorporated, as he testifies before a fictional crime committee.

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Reviews

I can see the educational purpose of the Witness series. I value the fact that Mr Falk has played Mr Reles once again, and in good fashion too. I enjoyed the humour value of the episode. I immersly love the 'Murder Inc.' movie and I must say this Witness piece clearly, plainly and strictly corresponds with it. I guess it's best to watch Murder first, though, as it is a masterpiece of its own and then saviour some more here - as a form of extra feature.

To comment on another user's comment: The name "Kid Twist" was not given to the "character" of Abe Reles. That was his nickname, although he was not the first hood to carry that monicker, granted. But Abe Reles was a real person--not a character invented by the writers and producers of this show, as the commenter seemed to imply.

That said, the quality of this video is very bad, as has been stated in other reviews. But I watched this installment of The Witness here on Internet Archives because I am a fan of Peter Falk, and I cannot seem to find this episode anywhere else, so, under the circumstances, I will accept the quality any way I can get it. Although it is fictional and hypothetical, a "what if" scenario, it is still valuable as a glimpse inside the inner workings of organized crime during the days of Murder, Inc. I have a copy of the movie "Murder, Inc." starring Falk as Abe Reles, and in The Witness he reprised that role. This reprisal holds true to the words and character of Reles as portrayed in the movie, although the scenarios are somewhat different. Anyone who views this episode of The Witness would find the movie quite interesting, and see a protrayal by Falk as riveting as it is brutal.

It's interesting that they picked "Kid Twist" as the name of the character - The original Kid Twist was a member of a vicious outfit known as The Eastmans, a gang headed by Monk Eastman at the turn-of-the-(20th)-century, in the notorious Five Points area of New York - He was a trusted lieutenant of Eastman, and a bloodthirsty murderer, who was offed by a rival gang around 1919 - This movie is unwatchable - Too slow and needs to be uploaded again as the reviewer before stated.